“The Power of Questions”
By: J. Glenn Ebersole, Jr., Founder & Chief Executive of J. G. Ebersole Associates and The Renaissance Group ™
As a business coach and a multi-disciplinary consulting professional, I totally believe that questions have awesome power. Since 1982 when I started my professional consulting practices, I have used the power of questions. Questions have the potential to be one of the most effective communication tools available.
One of my most effective and powerful techniques I use in my consulting and coaching practices is asking many questions. I have been impacted very strongly by Socrates and his Socratic method of teaching, which is the oldest and, in my opinion, still the most powerful teaching tactic for fostering critical and strategic thinking.
Using the Socratic method (in a more modern version) in business coaching, I do not give information directly but instead ask a series of questions, which results in desired knowledge by answering the questions or a deeper awareness of the limits of knowledge. As a business coach I can probe the nature of the client’s question, problem, or issue and inquire whether or not we have relevant data and information needed. We can consider alternate interpretations, question assumptions, look at consequences of decisions, etc. As a coach using the Socratic method, I lead my client(s) to think in a disciplined, intellectually responsible manner and aid them by posing facilitating questions.
Why is the ability to ask skillful questions so powerful in business? Questions are the tools we use to dig up information, learn what others are thinking, doing, believing and as a way to compare reality and perceptions. If we do not ask questions, we are exposing ourselves to miscommunications, poor communications, misinterpretations, and we fall victim to assuming we know something (or worse, everything) there is to know about someone of some subject.
What can you do to capture the power of questions? Here are just a few thoughts.
+ Set a goal to ask several questions in all your interactions to improve your performance, build stronger relationships and reduce misunderstanding.
+ Engage in some silent personal reflection to find insightful questions and responses.
+ Clarify and confirm what you understand to be true and use questions to ensure there is a common understanding of what is discussed or what action will be taken.
+ Ask thoughtful questions of each person to demonstrate your respect for them and their ideas.
+ Ask for the information you need.
If you are interested in learning more about the power of questions and how you can become a skillful questioner to realize the power of questions, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his web site at www.businesscoach4u.com or through his email at jgecoach@aol.com
To learn more about this author, visit Glenn Ebersole's Website.
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